The hearing in a defamation case against Congress leader and Rae Bareli MP Rahul Gandhi was postponed on Saturday due to a legal workshop being organised at the civil court here, according to a lawyer.
The special MP-MLA court has now scheduled the next hearing for December 4, said Santosh Kumar Pandey, the legal counsel of the plaintiff Vijay Mishra.
The case was filed in 2018 by Mishra, a local BJP politician, who alleged that during the Karnataka assembly election campaign, Gandhi had made objectionable remarks against BJP leader Amit Shah.
Over the past five years, the case has seen significant delays. In December 2023, the presiding judge issued a warrant for Rahul Gandhi after he failed to appear in court. In February 2024, he finally appeared and was granted bail on two bonds of Rs 25,000 each.
The court later summoned him to record his statement. After multiple adjournments, Rahul Gandhi appeared on July 26, 2024, where he recorded his statement, declared his innocence, and called the case a "political conspiracy." Following this, the court instructed the complainant to submit evidence.
Since then, the case has been repeatedly postponed for various reasons, including the absence of judges, health issues of the complainant, and administrative reasons such as a medical camp organised by the Bar Association and Diwali vacations.
The complainant had previously submitted an application citing his ill health on multiple occasions, leading to adjournments on several hearing dates, including October 1 and October 9.
On October 9, Gandhi's lawyer Kashi Prasad Shukla cross-examined Mishra, during which he also submitted evidence. However, further hearings were delayed as the presiding judge was on leave on October 17, and October 31 was a holiday for Diwali.
